Photo credit: YWCA

The Auntie Suite at YWCA has received a new Cree name after a $100,000 donation from United Way to support the naming of the suite.

Director of Community Impact and Strategic Partnerships for United Way Saskatoon and Area Gary Beaudin says the name Iskwew Oteh, meaning a woman’s heart, was chosen by Cree Elder Mary Lee and was revealed during a short ceremony on October 10th.

“She said considering this space is about the women that live here, also that sub-space, that small room is going to be about women. She gave us a name, it’s called Iskwew Oteh, which literally in English means ‘a woman’s heart’.”

Beaudin adds that Lee identified the name through a traditional process.

“We asked her to go and consider an appropriate name for this space. And so, she does what she normally does, she probably went into a ceremony of some sort and came back to us several months later and said, ‘I have an appropriate name’.”

The Cree name is one way of following the calls to action brought on by the Truth and Reconciliation, Beaudin says.

“One of the calls to action was very much about cultural and language revitalization. That residential school process really did take away a lot of knowledge and teachings for contemporary First Nations folks. Part of this is revitalizing Cree culture.”

The Iskwew Oteh Auntie Suite will house a live-in matriarch who will provide cultural support to the women living in transitional housing as part of the YWCA Saskatoon’s Hopeful Heart’s program.